This collection of over sixty mainly autobiographical short pieces, transform Capone’s day-to-day experience into stories that might be understood as gentle sermons…or prayers. Reading her brief essays is like having a heart-to-heart conversation over a cup of tea with a kind, funny, honest friend who has emerged from a life touched by sorrow with her heart gloriously intact.
Life hasn’t been always been easy for Capone, though even her few sad stories glow with affection. She is open about both foibles and her pain. In “On Loan,” she’s discusses her penchant for worry. In many stories she touches on the public stigma she felt as a ‘ragamuffin’ foster child. Her descriptions of losing a dear friend to cancer in stories like “Confliction,” and “I Know She Happened” are powerful and wrenching. Capone has looked into darkness. As she makes clear in “TooBlessedtobeStressed” her religious belief doesn’t manifest in a denial of hardship, but from a Christian faith that offers comfort and understanding.
On the whole, this collection of essays is filled with warmth. Life delights the playful, observant Capone. Her joy radiates in “Table Talk,” and “The One Who Got Away,” and other stories about her ninety-three-year-old friend Inez. Her love for her husband John and amusing recollections of her father shine in “Don’t Throw Away the Oar,” and “Spaghetti Western.” And some of her brightest stories, like “Black Friday,” and “Can I Help You,” involve chance encounters that gather themselves up into moments of grace.
Sometimes Capone’s choice of stylistic simplicity inhibits the subtlety of her thinking, and some of her pop culture references undermine her. She is a compelling reteller of stories from the Old and New Testaments…as well as current TV series. The Biblical references will persist. The television references will lose some audience members and will date the material a little quickly.
Pamela Capone’s THE LITTLE LOVE THAT COULD is a refreshing reminder that faith and joy exist within an honest accounting of our imperfect days. This series of personal and faith-based essays compassionately guides readers through the doubts and struggles to a place of greater peace, appreciation, and understanding.
In THE LITTLE LOVE THAT COULD, author Pamela Capone is passionately committed to using her own life experience– written in accessible, compassionate prose–to help, advise, and heal.
~Ellen Graham for IndieReader